Save for the Future

Good morning everyone! Aren’t you so happy to be here this morning? I mean, we had a great time prayer prayer, sung some amazing songs, worshiped through giving and now we get to send our kids back to their clas with their amazing teachers who has prepared a great opportunity to learn the Scripture in a way that makes sense to them. Parents, don’t forget to talk to your kids after church and find out what they are learning in their classes. I also want to welcome those of you that are joining us online this morning. We are grateful you have decided to be a part of our extended spiritual family this morning.

Hey, did you know that its almost Thanksgiving....That is insane I have to say. This whole week we have been talking about various Thanksgiving related issues, meals, gathering family, which means shopping and cleaning…Im just not sure Im ready for all of this, and then of course I see that it snowed a bit more than I anticipated this week, so that was definitely a wake up call to what time of year it is. Why do I share that…well because most of the time…time creeps up on us doesn’t it. I mean for instance, this has long been a problem I have. I am frequently a relatively last minute shopper. Not because I forget when a birthday or anniversary is, I can tell you all of the dates…It is because I didn’t realize what day it was. Now that said, I am typically a pretty good gift giver, I actually enjoy giving things to people, but I am also frequently looking at the last week or many times the day before the gift is needed I am running to go shopping. That said, since we have moved here, I am starting to learn to be a little more intentional and plan ahead. I have to because Walmart, Target, Meijer isn’t just around the corner anymore…I used to go shopping on my way home, can’t do that anymore…now I have to plan ahead a bit more. But I think that’s good…it’s definitely good financially because Im not spending 100’s of dollars in one day, I am spreading it over a month or 2 now. But still it is a bit hard for me to realize what day it is most of the time. Beth is teaching me (at 42) how to use a calendar so that she knows what I know and she can help me remember that I am supposed to be doing something, but thats what Im talking about…So often I find myself being surprised because time just came out of nowhere!

Well that is actually going to be what we are talking about this morning, but before we do that, let’s remember where we are and what our focus and our goal is of this series together. You see, we are in a series called “Not Ours”. We called it not ours though for a reason. You see, we all have worked very hard for the things that we have, and we desire to do well with those items, right? Like, we want to take car of our care becuase we work hard to make those payments, or purchase with cash, whatever the deal is. So, we take care of it and we work to make sure it functions well. This week I changed the brakes on Beth’s car so that the car would function properly. Collin got a new catalytic converter for his car so that it would work properly. You see, we take care of things so that they will last us longer because we worked so hard to get all of our stuff....right? Well, actually if you will remember the first week of this series this month we actually saw that God Owns Everything and I own nothing.

Now, if in fact God owns everything and we are not the owners, we are what is called the stewards of God’s. You see, as Christians, we have been called to be good stewards of what God has given us. Now of course in order to be a good steward, we need to know what stewardship is, so I gave us a definition so that we would all be using the same vocabulary.

Stewardship: “The process of being responsible with someone else's property while it is entrusted (to you).”

So if stewardship is using someone else's resources responsibly, and we know that God owns everything and I own nothing, then that means I am stewarding God’s possessions, not my own. Now, over the coarse of this series we saw that we should Give to the Lord. I said that what you give to the Lord should be the very first thing on your budget list. Then after that we saw that we should Avoid debt, or really using debt wisely. We know that sometimes in our culture you cannot really pay cash for all things, and so whatever debt you use, you need to pay off responsibly, right. Then last week we saw that we should Provide for your family. Now this could have been a little controversial because I said that adult children need to assist in taking care of their aging parents. I also said that you should never loan money to your family, but that you should give money to your family, if you have the ability to do so.

Well, today we are going to tackle another topic that could be a little controversial, and I will explain why in a few minutes. Up until today I have kind of given you a bullet point of where you should be putting your money. However, today, even though this is the last thing we are talking about in this series, this should not be last on your budget list. This should not be the leftovers, although I understand that sometimes in order to give to the Lord, and provide for your family, you have to put this a little lower than you would like. However, you should seek to change that because you never know what is going to happen that is going to take all of your financial resources. You see, today we are going to answer the question...

What about saving?

This is a hard topic to tackle because there are strong feelings around this topic. Some of you may be here or be joining us oline and you would say…savings…there is no way I can save anything. I get it, Ive been there…and sometimes are still there. An anonymous author once said,

Whenever you hear the word save, it is usually the beginning of an advertisement designed to make you spend money. — Anonymous

The truth is that its hard to even thing about saving...However, that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t at least see what Scripture has to say about the topic of saving. Really we need to know what Scripture says becuase we should be striving to live a life pleasing to the Lord, and that would mean obeying what Scripture teaches, right? So, as I thought about this, and looked at this topic this week, what I found is that there is really

Two thoughts on saving

Yeah, of coarse its not easy , huh…nothing worth learning about is very easy. But, what we might actually find is that it is easier than we thing. So this morning we are going to look at these two thoughts and see where God is leading you in your finances this morning. The first thought process when it comes to the idea of saving is that...

God will provide day to day (children of Israel)

I think we would all agree with this statement right? I mean, clearly if we put our hope in the Lord, then the Lord will provide what we need in order to live a life pleasing to Him, right? That means that i shouldn’t be worried about tomorrow or what may happen later, should I. After-all, look at the Children of Israel in the wilderness. Turn with me over to

Exodus 16:4–5 (ESV)

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not. On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily.”

Ok, see…right here God told the Children of Israel to go out and take only enough for the day…He did not tell them to go out and take as much as they might need later, did he? Right here we see that God is instructing that if you really have faith, you will use what is given for today…today, you will not save that for later. Look at

Psalm 20:7 (ESV)

Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.

You see…clearly the author of this Psalm is saying not to trust in might, but to trust in the Lord. Also

Matthew 6:26–27 (ESV)

Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?

I mean it cannot possibly get any more clear than the truth that we should not be saving for later, but we should be trusting God, right? Well, there is a problem with this theory. You see, maybe the way that God is providing for your tomorrow, is through extra today. Let me tell you a story of dumb Billy.

Back in 2007 or so I was working for an HVAC company named Bowsher Heating and Air. I was an HVAC repair tech and I would go all over the Lafayette area making service calls for people. After about 1 week I was trained on the company process and I went out on my own. Now, I was paid hourly, but I also got bonuses based on selling service contracts and various upgrades. Well, Im pretty good at my job and then it got to be summer and it was hot…So, I worked and worked and worked. I would go in at 7am and not come home to 10pm many nights. Now, thats alot of overtime, isn’t it. Well, this was the first time I worked in the service industry like this where it is very seasonal. So, we got to around fall and service calls started to drop off quite a bit. I started being told I could go home after only 6 hours…Then 5, then 3, then it got to the point where I would show up to the shop at 7am and I was be told to turn around and go home…Well, clearly that is not very good for the paycheck. The problem is that when I had all that overtime, I was really enjoying life. Things had been so tight for us financially that we finally had some breathing room and we were going out to eat, and we were just getting what we needed…it was really nice…for the couple of months that it lasted. Then the pay got to be so bad that I could not provide for my family doing that, so I left the industry for a more stable position in apartment maintenance.

You see, God had provided the plenty so that I would be prepared for the not so plenty…but I missed that completely. You know, as a matter of fact, we are going to see that

Scripture Instructs us to save

Yeah, I know…hard to believe that Scripture actually speaks about this very thing huh. Actually, Scripture speaks to this issue in much the same way as my little financial experiment does. You see, in Genesis, long before the Exodus passage I just read to you there was a guy named Joseph. Joseph’s story starts in Gen/ 37, I would encourage you to go read it, but for now Im going to tell you the story.

So Joseph was the son of Israel (Jacob). Joseph was Israels favorite son and his brothers ere a bit jealous. So, the brothers sold Joseph into slavery. Well, Joseph was purchased by a guy named Potiphar who was a leader in Egypt. Joseph worked his way to the top of all the slaves there, and then was thrown in prison for not sleeping with Potiphar’s wife. Well, while there Joseph works up to the boss of the prisoners, and eventually he interprets some dreams for a couple of guys Pharoah had thrown into jail. Basically, one of these guys was going to be free…the other would be impaled. Well, Joseph asked these guys to help get him out of prison but that didn]t happen. Later Pharoah had a dream that no one could interpret. Joseph was asked about it and he interpreted it. Basically Joseph told Pharaoh that there was going to be 7 years of amazing crops and yeilds, but then there was going to be 7 years of complete famine....Then Joseph gives a little advice...

Genesis 41:34–35 (ESV)

Let Pharaoh proceed to appoint overseers over the land and take one-fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt during the seven plentiful years. And let them gather all the food of these good years that are coming and store up grain under the authority of Pharaoh for food in the cities, and let them keep it.

You see, here God leads Joseph to save for later…for the times of not enough. The result of this is that Egypt became the only place in the region to have food and people came from all over to purchase food from Egypt causing them to be far richer than anyone else. They literally owned everything…because they saved the way God directed Joseph. This is also how God was able to bless the family of Israel because they moved to Egypt where there was food.

I did the opposite of Joseph, becuase I am not always very wise…You know, we read this example, but we also see pretty clearly stated that we should save for the times in life when we are unable to provide through our work. Actually look at

Proverbs 21:20 (ESV)

Precious treasure and oil are in a wise man’s dwelling, but a foolish man devours it.

This verse pretty much declares that I was a fool in the story I told you earlier. But then there is

Proverbs 6:6–8 (ESV)

Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise. Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest.

You see, even the bugs know that there is wisdom in saving for the times when you are unable to provide for yourself through your work. We see it in the squirrels and chipmunks. The reality is that you never know when something can happen to tank you financially and you will need the savings to keep your head above water. I think we have all been through times like that. If you were wise and had savings you saw how much less scary it was than for those that did not have savings to provide for those emergencies.

Now, you may be here this morning or joining us online and you live your life so tightly that you are unsure where to come up with the resources to save. Your question would be...

How do I save

Here is the deal, Im going to be honest with you here and tell you that this is something I am personally still figuring out. However, I am grateful that I had some savings last year becuase it was a very expensive year for me with all of the traveling I did, and earlier this year as well. But I will share with you some things that I have learned over the years. First of all, start an emergency fund if you don’t have one. This comes from Dave Ramsey, or at least that is where I heard this from. In order to start that fund you may have to sell some things or get some extra hours, take a sidejob, but build up an account or some cash of around $1,000. That way when you car breaks down, or when the economy takes a turn…like it is now…you are ready for some of those increased expenses. Next, save something from every paycheck. What you do is you take a percentage of every single paycheck that comes into your house and you put it aside into your savings account…Or, you take a specific dollar amount with every check and you start to put that aside for when you will need it later. Lastly, you trust God for his provision. You see, the reality is that you need to balance these two thoughts as you save. You don’t save out of fear and worry, you save out of obedience and wisdom. As a matter of fact, look back at what God told the Children of Israel when they were told to only take what they needed for the day, God said this...

that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not — God

In other words, whether you are saving or giving or spending…make sure that you are doing so in a way that is following the God, and not yourself…Remember, you are a steward of these resources and you need to be prepared to use them in a way that is pleasing to the Lord. You need to use the resources that have been entrusted to you in the way that God would use them becuase that is what a good steward does. You don’t need to be scared or worried about anything, if God knows the number of hairs you have on your head..he knows how to provide for those hairs.S

You will notice over the course of the last few months it seems like there have been numerous ways that we have asked you to give. We have collected for a few people…we have collected for a church…We have collected for missions....We have collected all of these Christmas boxes…Now I havre encouraged some to give towards the town of Leaf River for Christmas, and we have asked about raising some funds for the fire department Christmas meal. There are so many ways that we can use the resources that God has given to us as believers. So what is God asking you to do with the resources you have been entrusted with. Have you given to the Lord first? Have you made the decision to live below your means…In other words not to buy things you cant afford, and avoid debt as much as you can, especially from family? Have you made the decision to take care of your family, no matter what stage of life you or they are in? Finally, will you commit to saving for your future if you do not already.

If you are here or joining us online and you are a little lost about how to make everything work, let me encourage you to reach out. Someone here would be happy to sit down with you for financial counseling. If you are here or joining us online and you are struggling not just with your finances, but with everything as we are coming into the holiday season, reach out and let’s talk about how Scripture can have an impact on your life in a very real way. Listen, I know the holiday season can be hard for many reasons. There are financial stresses, family stresses, grieving for lost loved ones there are so many reasons that the holidays are one of the hardest times of the year. So if that is you…please know that you are not alone. There are people right here in this fellowship that love and care for you, or would if you were to let them. Reach out and let’s have a conversation about how to get through the holidays together. For now though...this morning...let me pray over you and pray that the God who owns everything will encourage each of us to use his resources responsibly.

Let’s Pray